Dorian LPG Ltd.

Greetings and welcome to the Dorian LPG Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Additionally, a live audio webcast of today's conference call is available on Dorian LPG's website, which is www.dorianlpg.com. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ted Young, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you, Mr. Young. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Michelle, and good morning, everyone. Thanks to everyone for joining us for our third quarter 2020 results conference call. With me today are John Hadjibateras, Chairman, President, and CEO of Dorian LPG Limited, and John LaCour is Chief Executive of Dorian LPG USA. As a reminder, this conference call webcast and a replay of this call will be available through February 12, 2020. Many of our remarks today contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These statements may often be identified with words such as expect, anticipate, believe, or similar indications of future expectations. Although we believe that such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors, as well as general economic conditions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions or estimates prove to be incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those we expressed today. Additionally, let me refer you to our unaudited results for the period ended December 31, 2019, that were filed this morning on Form 10-Q. In addition, please refer to our previous filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, where you'll find risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. With that, I'll turn over the call to John Hadjibateris.

Good morning and thank you for joining our third quarter earnings call. Today I'm happy to have announced that based upon its assessment that this is the best use of our excess cash at this time, our board of directors has doubled the stock repurchase authority to $100 million. Funded by strong cash flow, the increased authorization allows us to capitalize upon the disconnect between the intrinsic value of the company and our stock market valuation. Since the original authorization last August, we have repurchased 1,397,662 shares at an average price of $12.33. Management and the Board continue to evaluate other options of enhancing shareholder value, including paying dividends, prepaying debt, and acquisitions. Ted will be giving you the detailed breakdown of our TCE and utilization numbers shortly. It is important to note that on a traditional definition, freight and hire less voyage costs over available days, the Helios TCE per available day was $50,141 per day, including earnings from several time charters which were booked at the end of 2018 and in early 2019. at sub-30,000 per day levels, most of which expire as we speak. Our scrubber retrofreq program added some logistical complexity. Positioning of ships can result in certain inefficiencies, such as waiting time, suboptimal rates, and additional bunker costs. When considering the effects of these challenges and the TCE achieved in the Helios pool, we consider our chartering performance quite solid. In addition to our own fleet, we have, since April of last year, had a ship on time charter at an attractive rate, and as announced in our earnings release, we took delivery this week of a new building, old Panamax type, fitted with a hybrid scrubber. Global seaborne LPG trade continues to grow, increasing by 14% in 2019 to a record of 109 million metric tons. While the U.S. and Middle East exported roughly the same amount in 2019, it appears that annual U.S. export volumes will surpass the Middle East for the first time in 2020. Already, during the last three quarters of calendar 2019, the U.S. exported 500,000 metric tons and five VLGC liftings on average, more per month than the Middle East. Our outlook for the coming calendar year remains optimistic. The coronavirus is, of course, a potential headwind. IMO 2020 has strengthened the market position of Doran's Fleet. Increased bunker prices have enhanced the value proposition of our young and fuel-efficient echo ships. As the cost differential between high-sulfur and low-sulfur fuel continues, we remain competitively positioned with seven scrubber-equipped ships at present. And in the coming months, more than half our fleet, 12 ships total, will be scrubber equipped. Ted, over to you.